Sweet Child of His
by Thankfulpolaroid
Summary: What if Tony Stark had a daughter? One that he didn't know about until he came after his parent's death. How does this change the events of Tony Stark's story line? And What does Obadiah Stane have to do with her mother's death? (Bucky Barnes is featured. Hint of Tony Stark/OC Tony Stark daughter fanfic. Tony/Pepper Gwen Stark.) RATED M FOR MURDER AND LANGUAGE


Katherine Valentine, 16 years old, and quite frankly the smartest girl at MIT. She was childhood friend's with the smartest boy on campus. Tony Stark. Katherine believed that the only reason she was smart was because she grew up playing and building things with Tony. Tony taught her things growing up that she wouldn't have learned how to do in her home. She wasn't exactly rich, but she wasn't poor. Her parents sent her to a private school in Long Island, where she went to preschool with Tony.

The two became almost inseparable. When Tony advanced into higher grades before his time to, he made sure Katherine did too. Maria Stark thought it was the cutest thing, and so did Gwendolyn Valentine, Katherine's mother. Those two became friends, and always joked about how the two would probably get married one day.

Tragedy after Tragedy struck for these two smart kids. Katherine was 14 when her mother died of cancer, and since she didn't exactly have a father, she was sent to live with her grandfather on the other side of New York City. The two had been separated.

Or so they thought. One day in the mail Katherine had been sent a phone, one she had never seen before. It was small, and in small print on the back 'Love Tony.' was engraved. At first Katherine thought it was some glorified email sender, so the two could have some sort of portable computer in their pockets at all times, but when she turned it on and pressed the small green call button on the bottom of the screen...She was met with the smiling face of Tony Stark.

It was like a miracle. The two only got to see eachother every other weekend, and now? They saw each other everyday. Katherine called it 'The Magic Box', while Tony called it 'ScreenTime' which would later in the future be called 'The Stark Phone' a very, very smart phone. Over the 'ScreenTime' The two finished making their plans to go to college together, unable to wait the two friends decided to finish school early. Katherine was 15, and Tony 16 at the time, they had been offered so many scholarships to whatever colleges they wanted.

Then Katherine's grandfather died. He had been 77 and a brain tumor the size of a golf ball on his frontal lobe had been his aggressive death. Which meant, the only family Katherine had left was in Germany. Katherine didn't go. Katherine didn't go because- she had fallen in love with Tony Stark.

She didn't tell him that though, Tony invited Katherine to move in, with his mother's permission of course. Katherine accepted and the two began getting things ready for college. They chose MIT, where Tony paid off the school to let him and Katherine share a dorm room. That was behind Katherine's back, one could only imagine the surprise she felt when Tony chose top bunk. It wasn't long after sharing a dorm, that the began sharing other things, like for example: The same bed. Yes, in the way one would think.

Tragedy struck once again, but not on Katherine Valentine, on Tony Stark. News came to him when Obadiah Stane came to visit the dorm at MIT. Tony was 17 when he was told that his parents had died in a car crash. When Obadiah left, Tony in a desperate attempt to feel something other than pain, got drunk, stupidly so with his best friend, and the two did something stupid. One: vandalise school property, streaked down the hallway naked, and the proceeded to have drunken unprotected sex in their professor's classroom on his desk.

Katherine had woken up the next day alone in their dorm. Tony's clothes strewn about the floor, along with some of his belongings. Then a note that said 'Gotta think, be back soon. - Tony Stark'

Tony never came back soon.

Life moved on slowly for Katherine Valentine. She watched Obadiah Stane keep watch over Stark Industries, she watched her pregnancy with her and Tony's child grow on until she finally had a baby girl at 17 years old.

She named her, 'Gwendolyn Maria Stark.' born after Katherine graduated MIT with a masters degree way before she should have. She could thank Tony for that, but he was gone.

Katherine came back to Long Island, she visited Obadiah Stane in a desperate attempt for help, but, instead, he paid her off. He paid her to say nothing about Tony Stark's daughter. He paid her to not tell Tony, she refused. He then **threatened** her to keep her mouth shut or something 'bad' would happen.

Gwendolyn Maria Stark's story started the moment Tony Stark returned at age 21.

 _Katherine held Gwendolyn on her hip as she walked into her old family home. Tony's family had bought it after the family had died, in hopes that maybe she'd stay there with her grandfather. That never did happen, but the Stark's had kept it, and once Katherine graduated she moved in there with her daughter._

 _Katherine had her red hair up in a ponytail, her waitress uniform covered in small grease stains. Her college, her master's degree in thermal science and engineering got her nowhere. Not because she didn't want to, but because she had a daughter to raise and this was the only job she could have that she could bring Gwendolyn along with. Katherine gave a sigh as she walked in, Gwendolyn's red hair tickling the top of her nose and the toy she played with singing non-stop cheetah-girl's music._

 _Gwendolyn was four now, very smiley all the time. She was a happy kid, they didn't have much, but Gwendolyn liked the fact they had each other, as did Katherine, Tony Stark had been her best friend and now- and now her daughter replaced him. It was a good feeling, before her daughter was born Katherine felt as though something had been missing, but the moment that Katherine laid eyes on that small, pale, redheaded and blue eyed baby- that missing dreadful feeling had vanished. It had been the best feeling in the world._

 _Katherine set Gwendolyn down on the couch and set the bag of leftovers in the kitchen with a small smile. "Gwen, wash up for bed!" Katherine said laying her hands on her lower back and stretching. She looked around her house, it wasn't perfect, toys were on the floor, and her old markings of her height growing up on the wall. Her daughter's now stained the wall as well. Old wooden cabinets with small food stains on them from when her and Gwen had used the mixer to mix the spaghetti sauce. It wasn't perfect, but it was home._

" _I don't have to go to bed! I'm in first grade now, I'm a big kid." Gwen said as she walked into the kitchen, her doll discarded on the couch. Her hands were on her hips, curly hair a mess from the school day. Katherine smirked and turned her body to look at her. She looked so much like Tony it was unbelievable. Her daughter excelled in school activities. She skipped pre-school and kindergarten. Katherine thought back to the moment that she had extended her daughter's bedtime, and that memory never happened. Katherine crossed her arms over her chest._

" _How about an episode of the Backyardigans, a glass of milk and bedtime?" Katherine asked with a smile. Gwen raised a red eyebrow, her lips pursed into a thin line as if she were thinking hard._

" _Two episodes, a cookie with that milk, and a bedtime story." Gwen said and held her hand out. Katherine opened her mouth in shock._

" _I didn't sign up for negotiations when I had kids." Katherine said and took Gwen's hand, "But deal." She said and watched Gwen give her hand a shake and laugh before skipping off, back to her couch and her doll. Katherine watched the spot her daughter once stood with wide eyes and shook her head. She didn't move until she heard the theme song of that kid's cartoon play. She shook her head, running a slender hand down her face as she moved to the refrigerator pulling out the milk and then a class from the above cabinet pouring it slowly and then just deciding to give the last of the milk to Gwen. She reached her hand into the cookie jar and pulled out a few animal shaped cookies, but not the elephants, Gwen wouldn't eat those things even if you forced her. She walked to the living room and placed the snack on the coffee table before heading to her room._

 _Katherine closed her door behind her. She bent down picking up her night clothes from the night before and quickly changing. She looked at that damn magic box on her night table and sighed picking it up. She hadn't used it since Tony left, but it always remained on the charger Tony built, just in case...she..she kept it on there in case he ever called. She turned it on slowly, watching the picture of her and Tony their first year in college pop up, before notifications started rolling in._

 _Katherine felt her heart stop, she quickly moved to lay on her stomach on her bed, looking at the phone with a small frown, her mind becoming dizzy and eyes gleaming with tears. 'Four missed ScreenTimes from Tony Stark.'. Katherine closed her eyes, shaking her head and looking back at her phone scared that maybe her eyes had been deceiving her. When she opened them, those notifications were still there. She looked at the time stamp. 6 hours ago._

" _What the fuck, Tony…" Katherine whispered and sat up as she heard the doorbell ring. Her tears had fallen, so she thought it best to not answer. She walked out, to tell her daughter not to answer the door._

 _Gwen was already there, one hand in the pocket of her denim overall dress with the pink flowers on it, that matched her pink shirt. She swung the door open. "Where's my pizza?" She asked looking up at the man. This man was Tony Stark. He wore a suit, sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, which he slowly removed to look at this little redheaded child asking for her pizza._

" _Gwendolyn Maria Stark! We don't want that pizza." Katherine said as she came into view, dropping 'the magic box', it fell to the ground with a thud, her eyes wide with horror at the man at the door. Tony stared at her with wide eyes when that name left her mouth, Gwendolyn, after Katherine's mother, Maria, after his mother, and Stark. AFTER HIM. He put that together quick, seeing the four year old wasn't enough._

" _Good, because I felt bad I didn't bring pizza." Tony said with a half smile. "Also, It took me months to build those for us." He said. Katherine jumped at his voice, she was frozen in place._

 _Gwendolyn slammed the door shut in his face and shrugged. "Mom, big girls order pizza." She said turning and crossing her arms with a pout. Tony stood at the door blinking in astonishment. He wasn't just going to turn around and leave. Nope, then why was he turning? Why was he walking to his car quickly?_

 _Katherine gasped for air, not realizing she was holding her breath. "Yeah, with the money they make." Katherine said as she quickly opened the door and walked outside till she was standing on the sidewalk, looking at Tony as he walked to his car. "I don't think so. You already left me once!" She said, Tony stood at his car door, it was open he was looking at her. He didn't know why, if this was anyone else he'd run for the hills, but- it was the desperation in Katherine's eyes, the way she ran outside, in the rain, barefoot to stop him from leaving again. She took a few steps forward and Tony didn't move, which made her stop moving all together._

" _Mommy?" Gwen asked in a soft confused voice, stepping outside and taking her hand as if she was scared, "If he's not the pizza guy? Who is he? And why are you crying?" She asked. Katherine reached up and wiped her eyes quickly. Tony looked down before slowly making his way around the car and back to them._

 _Katherine took a breath and looked down at Gwendolyn, "This is-" Her words left her and her mouth became dry. '_ _ **If you tell Tony Stark about her, something bad will happen.**_ _' Obediah's voice entered her mind, her heart sank. She didn't even tell Tony, she didn't mean for this._

" _I'm your dad." Tony said as he stopped in front of Gwen, he bent down on one knee, kneeling in front of the small girl. Katherine stopped her thinking to watch this, she watched Tony take her chin in his hand._

 _Tony vowed in that moment that he wasn't going to be like his father. That he was going to be there for Gwen, even if Katherine didn't want that. He'd fight, he wasn't Howard Stark. Gwen looked partially scared in that moment, her hand leaving Katherine's and taking his wrist in her small hands._

" _You are?" Gwen whispered softly, Tony gave a smile. "But mommy told me you were dead."_

 _Those words caused Tony to look up at Katherine with a small glare. "Well your mommy's a liar." He snapped. Gwen looked angry too, looking up at Katherine._

" _I thought you were." Katherine said sharply, her voice raising an octave. "We all thought you were." She said, and looked at Gwen, "Mommy didn't lie about anything." She said and laid a hand on her head._

 _Tony dropped the glare and looked down at Gwen again, his small smile returning. "Do you know who I am?" He asked._

" _Not the pizza guy?" Gwen asked like it was a question, and Tony chuckled and shook his head._

" _I'm Tony Stark."_

 _-hours later-_

 _Tony and Gwen were asleep on the couch, Backyardigans playing in the background as Katherine watched them. Catching up had been fun, even if Katherine and Tony snapped at one another a few times, watching their language since Gwen had thought because Tony said 'shit', she could say it._

 _It still had been fun, and now Tony was asleep on the couch, chin resting over the top of Gwen's head, pizza on the coffee table, one half eaten one courtesy of Gwen sitting on a pink paper plate. Gwen currently had her head buried in Tony's chest, small thumb in her mouth, and missing one pink sock, that laid forgotten behind the couch._

 _Katherine smiled before frowning and looking at her cell phone on the coffee table. She picked it up and walked out of the room. She flipped through the contacts until she landed on Obadiah Stane. She pressed the call button as she locked herself in the bathroom and slid down the bathroom door._

" _Four years I've been trying to reach you" Obadiah said into the phone, Katherine pursed her lips, this terrible feeling filling her stomach._

" _Tony's here." She said and then her eyes widened and the need to explain herself quickly filled her. "I didn't tell him, he just, knew." She said, "Gwendolyn answered the door while I was in my room, please don't hurt us, please.." She whimpered a silent sob racking her body as she tried to keep herself together._

" _Tony's back? That's great." He said, the sound of people talking heard. "I knew he was back, tabloids and whatnot, I was just hoping he wouldn't make the trip to your house." He said and sighed, "Before I got the chance to talk to you about what I said before." He said smoothly. "When I said bad things would happen to you, I meant in the public, what people would say about you, and what they would do to slander the Stark name." He explained. He was lying, but he was saying sounded like music to Katherine's ears._

 _She didn't know this had been the trick all along if Tony had found out himself, or if she said anything to him. Katherine laughed slowly, shaking her head. "Oh my god, for years I thought you were going to kill us!" She said with a laugh, "This is crazy, Obie..I'm so sorry. I should have known you weren't like that. I'm so sorry." She said, but Obadiah had hung up._

 _Katherine looked at her phone and then placed her forehead on it. What a relief._


End file.
